Credit bureau database: banks conducted highest number of enquiries

Banks conducted the highest number of enquiries on the credit bureau databases with a total of 13,522,171 searches.

This represented 84.93% of total enquiries compared to 77.83% in 2023.

Microfinance and Microcredit institutions followed with 8.82% of total enquiries in 2024, a decrease from 11.0% recorded in 2023.

Searches among savings and loan companies and others also decreased compared to the previous year.

According to the Bank of Ghana, it is mandatory for financial institutions under Section 26 of the Credit Reporting Act, 2007 (Act 726), to conduct credit searches on prospective borrowers before approving or denying credit facilities.

Aside from this mandatory requirement, the authorised users conducted searches for several reasons in the year under review.

The report added that, consistent with previous years, enquiries related to credit applications dominated reasons for authorised users conducting searches on credit bureau databases, followed by credit bureau searches and then Known Your Customer (KYC).

Meanwhile, the use of credit bureau services in loan applications remains relevant to lenders to identify non-creditworthy borrowers.

Data Submission

For data submission, an average of 61,139,397 records were submitted to credit bureaus every month in 2024, compared to an average of 21,063,325 loan records in 2023.

The data related to new loans disbursed within the respective months, updates on the status of previously submitted loans, and digital loans.

Source: Joy Business News